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Traversing the Past with Nergez
The Parsi day-dreamer
-by Abha
Few Aurovilians would
have experienced a time in India when a meal in a Chinese restaurant
cost less than five rupees and a haircut in an upper-rung salon only
three. Not many would remember the time when three ships, docked in
the Bombay harbour, with one of them carrying cotton, ammunition, and
surprisingly enough, ninety gold bricks, exploded in a literal shower
of gold. One brick came flying through the roof of the Motiwallah family
home, narrowly missing Nergez's head as she stood day-dreaming in the
gallery. For her father, the head of the Parsi joint family, his daughter's
life had been spared by a divine miracle. The 22 carat gold brick, with
the Bank of England stamp on it and worth about 90,000 rupees was of
little value in his eyes. The following morning, amidst much neighbourhood
speculation, he returned it to the police who came to pick it up in
the official van. The year was 1944, Nergez was twenty-three, and there
were still twenty-eight years to go before she met the Mother and decided
to join Auroville.
Following the curve of Nergez's
life is much like traversing a multitude of terrains, some smooth, others
uneven. What is remarkable is the spectrum of personas --the traditional
Parsi girl, the motivated college student, the sophisticated hostess,
the insatiable traveler, the dreamer, the undaunted peace-seeker-- that
she has inhabited over the years, dropping a few as she ventured further
and further away from the closed circle of Parsi culture towards the
realization of her truer self. The composite picture of Nergez, however,
would not emerge if any of these pieces of her self were negated or
lost; they are reminders of the transformative process that she, like
countless others, has undergone, before reaching a state of contentment
and unity within.
The search for new horizons
Born on November 3, 1921,
Nergez's travels began in 1951 when she visited Europe with a group
of seven friends from Bombay. Within a budget of 5000 rupees each, they
traveled through England, Scandinavia, France, Switzerland and Italy.
In the years that followed she continued to reside in Bombay where she
learnt Hatha yoga under B.K.S. Iyenger, and became one of the first
teachers at a professional level. Marriage came later in the 1950s.
And then the sudden loss of her husband in 1968.
Nergez arrived in Pondicherry in 1972 with a group of 18 people, most
of whom were devotees of Sri Aurobindo, and the Mother. Having little
prior knowledge of their work, she briefly met the Mother at the Ashram.
This single meeting transformed her skepticism into a growing devotion
that led her to visit Auroville. She returned for short periods of time
in 1974, 1975, and 1976. In 1977, in the face of stern opposition by
her brother, she settled in Utilite, Auroville, for the next three years
helping out with the various communal efforts that were being made there.
The experiences in Utilite, when everyone had to make do without electricity
and other essentials, remain close to Nergez's heart. Her various encounters
with snakes in her keet-roofed makeshift home, the experiments with
biogas, the friendships she formed in those early days, evoke the mood
of challenge and adventure that coloured her pioneer days, and that
continues to motivate her even today. Perhaps the only Aurovilian who
has been hitching rides within the township for more than twenty-five
years now, Nergez still manages without transportation of her own. She
fondly remembers the time when even the local villagers would stop their
bicycles to offer her a ride. "These days everyone has a moped
or a motorbike, and most people zip by without stopping", she complains.
Rediscovering India
I persuade Nergez to tell
me more of her life before she came to Auroville. Her eyes gaze into
times and spaces that no longer exist. She smiles. Remembers a Bombay
of long ago. The bustling joint family of seventeen people that lived
in the Motiwallah house with its large courtyard. Her schooling in Alexandra
Girls English Institute, and the quick imbibing of an alien language,
that washed as a wave over her whole consciousness, that overran other
alphabets, other worlds, almost drowning out the Hindu culture that
flourished in all its diversity outside the guarded gates of her home
and her school. Interestingly, Nergez rediscovered this fecund cultural
landscape through the writings of Sri Aurobindo. Savitri, for example,
was an eye-opener for Nergez. She read the book, she says," like
a novel. The language was something that drew me. The similes elaborated
a world that I knew very little about. Hindu mythology was always something
that was outside, outside the family fold, the school premises. I still
feel sad that I don't know Hindi as well as I should. But I'm so grateful
for knowing a tongue that helps me to read Sri Aurobindo, and to appreciate
the nuances of his style, the beauty of his thoughts translated into
words."
Long-term Aurovilian
Having read Savitri more than
thirteen times, Nergez is an active member of the Savitri Bhavan study
group that hosts many activities in Auroville during the year. At eighty
she still has a busy life, and is difficult to catch at home. Nergez
enjoys socializing and has always liked community living. Having contributed
in a significant and consistent way to the evolving city of Auroville,
she has served on several important committees for many years. In the
past ten years she has been part of the Entry Group and taken a prominent
interest in formulating the new entry rules for those joining Auroville
today. Presently, she works for the Housing Group which continues to
face the challenge of providing viable solutions to the acute housing
shortage in Auroville.
After more than 25 years of living in Auroville, during which time she
also briefly visited Russia, Africa, Iran, and North America, today
Nergez lives in Samasti, having already moved house several times. Having
done the whole round of living in simple accommodations from camping
in capsules to plain brick shelters, the Samasti house appears to be
more comfortable. But if you thought this place would continue to always
be her home, think again. "I'm moving to Creativity soon"
(a new community that combines communal facilities with private living
space), she says with her characteristic sunny glee, "and I will
move on to Arka (another innovative residential-cum-research project
that seeks to create a protected, yet interactive environment for people
above a certain age) after that!"
Nergez's journeys through space and
time continue, and who knows one day we may even catch up with her.
-adapted from AVtoday-
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